Jackie Wilson - Supreme Fluidity

[JSngry]

That jump....softest landing ever? Incredible.

[Dave James]

Our local PBS affiliate is in the midst of a fund raising effort, so they're showing some stuff you don't see every day. Last night it was the original TAMI show from 1964. Jan & Dean, the Beach Boys, the Supremes, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Marvin Gaye, Leslie Gore and, last but not least, a very young James Brown. Man, you want to talk about a guy whose body sings. He was all over the place. Check this out:

He and Jackie Wilson would have given Michael Jackson a run for his money any day of the week.

[JSngry]

Jackie Wilson predated JB!

But how many people today know Jackie Wilson? And is there any footage that wasn't made for White TV or motion pictures? To see that guy live, in his prime, on his home turf....the imagination reels!

As it is, that clip of "Lonely Teardrops" has me mesmerized, just watching how in sync the entire body is...the whole "package" is "entertainment", sure, but beyond that, there's something quite serious going on...

Or maybe it's just because that I can't dance at all, I'm taken aback by those who can do it really well.

[Chuck Nessa]

Saw him live once in the mid '70s. It was a tv taping and he moved on stage like he was floating. Never saw anything like it.

[JSngry]

TV taping? Mid-70s? What show? Was it this?

[Dave James]

Wasn't Wilson a professional boxer before he got into the music biz? That might explain his mastery of foot work.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

wow, thanks for that.

so I read he "collapsed" of a heart attack and never really came back while singing the same song on the same show - some 17 years later(?).

Now did the Isley's pick up on that tune for "Shout!" or what?

[paul secor]

I can recall seeing Jackie Wilson on (white) TV a number of times before he got shot by a girlfriend shot him in 1961. He had some amazing moves. It seemed like he always did that leap and semi-split.

When I saw James Brown later on - James was too raw for mass TV until he got to be so big that they couldn't avoid him - he was great, but early Jackie Wilson was always my favorite.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Now did the Isley's pick up on that tune for "Shout!" or what?

I always thought so. It was written by Berry Gordy.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Jackie Wilson predated JB!

Indeed he did. He took over from Clyde McPhatter as lead singer with Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1953 and had a hit that year with "Rags to riches". One thing that Wilson could do that JB never could was sing a big ballad, or a blues ballad. "Doggin' around", "A woman, a lover, a friend" and "No pity in the naked city" are some of the JW singles I regret ditching back in the day.

MG

[Chuck Nessa]

TV taping? Mid-70s? What show? Was it this?

I don't think so, but memory plays tricks. I think is was for Soundstage on PBS.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Here's Jackie doing some ballads

Doggin' around

No pity in the naked city

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvVX76VADHo&feature=related

By 1965, when the second one was done, the backings had improved no end. That's a fine band behind Jackie there. MUCH better than the backings Dick Jacobs did for him. I think the crap backings were what made, for me anyway, Jackie Wilson a singles artist - I never for a moment contemplated getting an LP of him, though I had most of his 45s.

MG

[Stereojack]

Always thought Jackie had the best moves - he truly did float like a butterfly! His boxing background really did him well, although it didn't hurt that he also had a great set of pipes. I agree with MG - Jackie's LP's were mostly schlock, but I wouldn't put the blame completely on Dick Jacobs and the arrangers - in order to cross over in those days it was necessary to go pop, as much as we may hate it now. Sam Cooke's records suffer from many of the same problems.

[Dave James]

Jackie Wilson predated JB!

Indeed he did. He took over from Clyde McPhatter as lead singer with Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1953 and had a hit that year with "Rags to riches". One thing that Wilson could do that JB never could was sing a big ballad, or a blues ballad. "Doggin' around", "A woman, a lover, a friend" and "No pity in the naked city" are some of the JW singles I regret ditching back in the day.

MG

I don't know. I always thought It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World and I'm Just A Prisoner were a pretty "big" ballads.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I agree with MG - Jackie's LP's were mostly schlock, but I wouldn't put the blame completely on Dick Jacobs and the arrangers - in order to cross over in those days it was necessary to go pop, as much as we may hate it now. Sam Cooke's records suffer from many of the same problems.

True enough, but the difference between the early backings and those on "No pity", "Baby workout" and "Baby get it" is really quite striking. It may simply be that things had moved on a bit and that had helped. But I always wondered how Jackie's early records might have sounded if he'd recorded for Stax.

MG

[JSngry]

Or, for that matter, the Shindig house band:

Is there any way that this not not swing like hell? I think not!

[Dave James]

Thank God the Shindig Dancers were there to prop Jackie up. Without them, I don't know how you can even watch this. What was it about shows like this or Hullabaloo or Hollywood Palace that made it mandatory to pepper the stages with a bunch of knuckleheads whose only accomplishment was to detract from both the performer and the performance. Didn't get it then, don't get it now.

[Harold_Z]

Yeah..it swings like mad! Jackie Wilson is in the pantheon. I saw him live once in a Lodi New Jersey club (Luciano's)and it was like that - A house band trio (organ bass)and Jackie carried a guitarist. Phenomenal show. One of those joints where the bandstand was behind the bar and the best seats were bar stools. Jackie had some pipes. Him doing Danny Boy is something I will never forget.

[John L]

Jackie Wilson predated JB!

Indeed he did. He took over from Clyde McPhatter as lead singer with Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1953 and had a hit that year with "Rags to riches". One thing that Wilson could do that JB never could was sing a big ballad, or a blues ballad. "Doggin' around", "A woman, a lover, a friend" and "No pity in the naked city" are some of the JW singles I regret ditching back in the day.

MG

I don't know. I always thought It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World and I'm Just A Prisoner were a pretty "big" ballads.

Yes, I have always considered James Brown to be a truly great ballads singer: add Bewildered, Try Me, Lost Someone, You've Got the Power, I Don't Mind...

As for Jackie Wilson, he ruled the R&B stage in the late 50s and early 60s. Nobody could take him out. It is too bad that more of those shows were not recorded. He was much greater live than in the studio, where he often suffered from poor production or taste.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Jackie Wilson predated JB!

Indeed he did. He took over from Clyde McPhatter as lead singer with Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1953 and had a hit that year with "Rags to riches". One thing that Wilson could do that JB never could was sing a big ballad, or a blues ballad. "Doggin' around", "A woman, a lover, a friend" and "No pity in the naked city" are some of the JW singles I regret ditching back in the day.

MG

I don't know. I always thought It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World and I'm Just A Prisoner were a pretty "big" ballads.

Yes, I have always considered James Brown to be a truly great ballads singer: add Bewildered, Try Me, Lost Someone, You've Got the Power, I Don't Mind...

As for Jackie Wilson, he ruled the R&B stage in the late 50s and early 60s. Nobody could take him out. It is too bad that more of those shows were not recorded. He was much greater live than in the studio, where he often suffered from poor production or taste.

I'd forgotten about "Man's world", which is, indeed, as great as anything JW did. But the others aren't the same type of thing at all, in my view. JW was a SINGER; a man with a VOICE to power through all the crap and hit you; not many of them around (except in Gospel and in Africa, where there are plenty).

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Or, for that matter, the Shindig house band:

Is there any way that this not not swing like hell? I think not!

Shindig house band or whoever, they were playing the arrangement from the single. And that was infinitely better - and yes, it SWANG!! - than what he'd had five, six years earlier, and since.

MG

[Alexander]

LOVE Jackie Wilson. Magnificent voice and moves from hell. And yes, he was a boxer (I don't know if he was pro). You can tell by watching him move that he was an athlete.

Wilson and JB were definitely Michael Jackson's models as a dancer.

[Enterprise Server]

He and Jackie Wilson would have given Michael Jackson a run for his money any day of the week.

Ya got that right! You're talking about three men who were in a world class by themselves. All three were innovative masters of the art of dancing improvisation.